Borders are a detail. International investigations from Seattle.
A licensed investigator in Seattle, and a colleague we know by name in most countries you could name.
Money, witnesses and counterparties cross borders; most investigators do not. Integra Intelligence works cross-border matters for law firms, companies and investors: asset tracing that runs through London, Dubai or Singapore, due diligence on a partner in Mexico City or Ho Chi Minh City, a witness in Munich, a judgment to enforce in Vancouver. We do the open-source and records work ourselves from Seattle. For the work that has to be done on the ground, we use investigators we know through the Council of International Investigators, the World Association of Detectives and Intellenet, three vetted networks with codes of conduct and references, in the countries on the globe below. We brief them, manage them, check their work and write the report.
Do you fly someone to the country?
Rarely, and you should be suspicious of anyone who offers to. The investigator who already lives there speaks the language, holds whatever license the country requires, knows which registry is online and which clerk answers the phone, and costs a fraction of a plane ticket. Our job is to choose that person well, brief them precisely, check what comes back against the record, and write the report in a form an American court or board will accept.
How do you vet an investigator you have never met?
Membership first. The Council of International Investigators, the World Association of Detectives and Intellenet each require sponsorship, references, years in practice and a code of conduct, and each expels people. Then our own checks: the licence where one exists, the corporate registry, the court record, and a call to two members who have used them. Then a small job before a large one. The networks also police themselves in a way no contract can. They are small; everyone knows everyone; most of the work members get from abroad comes from other members. An investigator who does slow or careless work for a colleague loses the referrals, the standing and eventually the membership, and word travels before the next conference. So a member working for a member does the job the way they would want it done for them. We hold up our end of that bargain when the work comes the other way, and it does.
What can lawfully be obtained abroad?
Less than in Washington in some places, more in others, and the answer decides the plan. Britain publishes every company's officers, owners and accounts for free; Canada and Australia are nearly as open; much of Europe sits under the GDPR, which limits what can be collected about a living person and how; bank secrecy still holds in parts of Asia and the Gulf; and some countries criminalize work that is routine here. We find out what is lawful in that country before anyone starts, and we do not ask a colleague to break the law of the place they live in. Our Washington licence covers Washington, which is why the local one matters.
Can an American judgment be enforced abroad?
Often, once a court there recognizes it, and whether that is worth doing depends on what the debtor owns there. Canada, Britain, Australia and most of the Commonwealth recognize American judgments readily; much of Asia and the Gulf do not, and a court in London or Singapore will sometimes freeze what an American court cannot reach. The procedure is a lawyer's question in two countries at once. What we add is the first question: whether there is anything there to collect. Land registries, company registers, vessel and aircraft records and the local press answer it before anyone retains foreign counsel.
What does it cost, and how long does it take?
Open-source and records work from Seattle is quoted as a fixed fee and finished in days. Work on the ground is quoted after we have spoken to the colleague who would do it, with their fee shown as a line item, and runs from a week for a company check to several for a surveillance or an interview program. Time zones help: a question sent at the end of the day in Seattle is answered in Europe or Asia before the next morning.
A colleague on the ground, vetted by the networks we belong to.
Each lit country has at least one member of Intellenet or the Council of International Investigators; most have both. The World Association of Detectives, with members in more than 75 countries, overlaps with them and reaches further. Turn the globe; hover a country to see the network.
The trail left the country. Tell us where it went.
Tell us the country, the question and the deadline. Within a business day you will know whether we can do it, who we would use, what is lawful to obtain there, and a fixed price for the first stage.
Contact Integra Intelligence